Maldives

Episode 4: Maldives Magic with Kiara Barnes

In this special episode, I chat with Kiara Barnes about our incredible trip to the Maldives together! We share behind-the-scenes stories from our paradise adventure, from overwater bungalows to crystal-clear lagoons.

Kiara and I dive into what it's really like traveling to one of the world's most stunning destinations, the highlights that took our breath away, and those perfect moments that made this trip unforgettable. 

Get ready for some serious wanderlust as we relive our tropical paradise adventure and give you all the insider details on why the Maldives should be at the top of your bucket list!

Accomodation Review: W Maldives

Planning a trip to the Maldives? This article has everything you need.

📌 Next week: I'll be chatting about my recent trip to Vancouver, hidden gems, and cultural curiosities you don't want to miss!

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Episode Transcript

UNKNOWN (00:00):
Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 (00:05):
Welcome to the Truly Expat Travel Podcast, where I
chat with expats about theirfavorite holiday destination.
Let's be honest, expats are someof the best travelers around,
always planning the nextadventure, exploring hidden
gems, and finding the best spotswherever they go.
So who better to ask for travelinspiration?
Today's episode is a littleextra special.

(00:26):
I'm joined by my daughter,Kiara, as we sit down to
reminisce about a trip we tooktogether to the stunning
Maldives.
From turquoise waters and whitesand beaches unforgettable
moments.
She'll be sharing the highs, theunexpected bits and why the
Maldives is more than just ahoneymoon destination.
So grab a coffee or maybe amocktail and join us as we take

(00:46):
you along to this island escape.
Welcome.
Welcome, Kiara.
Thank you.
So Kiara's been, I guess, anexpat for a very long time off
and on as she grew up, am Iright, in Asia?
Yes.
Yes.
So she's lived in quite a fewcountries and she's traveled

(01:07):
extensively.
So let's get started.
So what kind of traveler do youthink you are?
I think I'm definitely dabblinga bit of all of them, to be
honest, because I do like alittle getaway relaxing, but I
also like the historical aspectsof some locations in the world.
And do you think that depends onwhat kind of person that you

(01:28):
travel with or do you travelsolo?
I do a lot of, or to be honest,I am in my 20s now.
So my goal in life is to do atrip a year with my friends.
So it really depends on whatwe're looking for and where we
want to go to.
So it depends.
Like last year, I went to Canadaand America.
So we did a bit of both, but notreally like the beachy kind of

(01:49):
destinations because America, wedidn't go to Hawaii or anything.
I'm going to Europe this yearwith my best friend.
So we're definitely looking formore of that laid back
lifestyle.
Nice.
Okay, so what's the one traveldestination that completely
stole your heart and what firstdrew you?
I think it does come down to thetop two locations in mind,

(02:12):
Hawaii and Maldives, butMaldives definitely took my
heart because it was just aspectacular location.
It's definitely not just for ahoneymoon destination.
I went with my mom, so it wasdefinitely not the honeymoon
destination that we're lookingfor, but it definitely was
something that everyone needs toexperience.
And traveling with your mom wasfantastic, right?

(02:32):
Yeah.
I mean, we did grow up in Asia,so there wasn't many beaches
around in Hong Kong and thingslike that.
But living in the easternsuburbs for so long and going on
these destinations to thebeaches, a lot of snorkeling
involved, especially with myfather, which was always good.
And my mom does love the beach.
So I think our family are verydriven to the beach as well as

(02:57):
historical aspects.
So when you say the easternsuburbs, where are you referring
to?
So in Sydney, the easternsuburbs area, that's where I
have lived since boardingschool.
Okay.
And so how easy was it to get tothe Maldives?
Was it kind of like aspontaneous trip or was it a
planned trip?
So my parents were very...

(03:18):
Fantastic and generous.
It was after I graduated fromuni, so I went straight from...
high school to university and soit was my graduation holiday.
So my dad and my mom plannedthis whole trip to the Maldives.
So I came to Singapore to visitthem and then we went from the

(03:40):
Maldives.
I would say definitely you can'treally go straight from Sydney.
It is a bit harder.
Yep.
I think most people fly fromSingapore, right?
Unless you're coming from thenorthern countries, I think you
can fly there direct to Dubai aswell.
But you flew from Singapore?
Yeah, I flew from Singaporestraight to the Malay, which is
the main island of Maldives.

(04:02):
And it was like four and a halfhours?
Yeah.
There's 14 flights that go outfrom Singapore each day.
Oh, wow.
Okay.
I didn't know that.
Obviously, that's worth asurprise.
So how hard was it to get toactually where you stayed?
And where did you stay?
Tell me a little bit aboutMaldives.
So essentially, the main islandis Malay.

(04:23):
So everyone flies in from there.
That's where the internationalairport is.
And then you take a seaplane.
You can take a boat or seaplaneto your destination because each
little island off of Malé isowned by a hotel, which I would
definitely recommend staying onone of those islands.
We stayed at the W Hotel one.
So we took a seaplane there,which was about an hour, an hour
and a half.

(04:43):
And it was, I think for us, wewent in the morning, right?
We stayed overnight so that wecould actually see what was
going on like below in a day.
So what was your itinerary looklike?
So you can do a lot on theseislands, which being an island
that's owned by a hotel, there'sso much stuff to do.
But essentially my mum and Iwere going for that relaxation

(05:03):
type of vibe.
So we essentially woke up, wehad an all-inclusion breakfast,
food and drinks.
We went to breakfast eachmorning, had a couple of mimosas
and then we enjoyed the day bythe beach and exploring the
island.
There was a couple of like ofthe swings that you see on those
Pinterest photos.
We went to the same destinationfor lunch, the same restaurant

(05:26):
that was really good.
We had the same meal every day.
And then at dinner, we wouldjust try a couple of different
places.
Because there was a fewrestaurants, right?
Yeah, and bars as well.
So I don't know how many peopledo it, but we, I think we were
the only people that weren't acouple though, right?
Well, we did go in the quieterseason.

(05:46):
So it was really good for ourpart because it wasn't too busy,
but there's so many workoutclasses.
Heaps of people were doing theaerobic class in the water,
which was quite popular.
Yoga wasn't as popular, but Ialso do think it was quite a
period and it's also a honeymoondestination usually.
Yeah, because it was like asunrise or a sunset kind of
yoga, which was good.
When is the best time to travelto the Maldives?

(06:10):
So the Maldives is very similarto a couple of the Asian
countries.
So They have a wet and dryseason.
They're hot all year round, buttheir dry season is from around
November to April.
So I would definitely recommendgoing around there.
We went during the wet seasonand we were very fortunate that
we had like little to no rain.
You're more likely to have norain in that dry season.

(06:32):
I think the only real benefit ofgoing in the wet season is that
the prices are so much less.
So was there a standoutexperience or moment that made
the trip unforgettable?
I think definitely one of thenights we went for a sunset
dinner, which was quitebeautiful watching the sunset.
And we were also directly on thewater.

(06:52):
So it was a very stunning view.
And even all of the staff on theisland was so lovely and so
generous that it just made thewhole experience so much better.
It was beautiful, right?
Yeah.
Do you remember when that waitercame up to you and showed you
photos of he went diving orsnorkeling the night before?
Can you remember that?

(07:13):
Yeah, a lot of the staff woulddo night diving and he had like
a big octopus.
He took a video and showed uplike an octopus like directly in
his hand, like a humongous one.
So that was definitely anexperience.
And there were heaps of sharkstoo.
He's like, you should go atnight.
And you're going, yeah, yeah.
And you turn around and go,never will I do that.
Yeah, no.

(07:33):
I'm terrified of sharks.
I would never be drugged up.
But it was huge.
The octopus was massive.
So I think that alone wouldfreak me out if I grabbed an
octopus just in my bed.
Even like, I remember, I thinkit was the same place we were
walking and it was like a littledeck that you walk to the
restaurant and there were heapsof sharks, like small, like they
were miniature sharks.

(07:54):
I remember the waiter came overand he was like, oh yeah, like
they won't injure you.
And I was like, any shark willbite you.
Just the look on her face, justwith price levels.
What was something unexpectedyou discovered about the place?
I think two points.
I think I touched on it justbefore, how there's so much to

(08:16):
do on each island.
Like you can go snorkeling, youcan do day trips.
There's heaps of restaurants,heaps of bars.
There's even some clubs.
Heaps of workout classes.
So you didn't want to go withyour mum?
Yeah, no.
It's just a little bit strange.
It's weird.
Keep going.
And there's heaps of workoutclasses and stuff.
And then another point is thatit's a Muslim country, so they
don't really allow drinking onmain parts of the islands.

(08:40):
But...
When you're on the island that'sowned by a hotel, they do serve
alcohol there.
Yeah.
I think Malé itself is prettydry, but I remember I brought in
a bottle of gin with me and theyconfiscated it.
Do you remember that?
They confiscated it when I flewin, but they gave it back to me
when I was leaving.
That was just very nice of thembecause it was a whole bottle of

(09:02):
gin that I was going to drink awhole bottle of gin on the
island for me, but I was doingit for a friend for some photos.
But anyway.
Another story.
So what's your must-try localdish?
I don't know if it's a localdish, but I had it, like, every
day for lunch.
It was a tuna steak.
I would recommend the seafood.
It's so fresh there, theseafood.

(09:23):
I think because they, like, aswe were talking about before,
the waitstaff just, like, divethe night before and get the
seafood.
And it was, like, so fresh.
It was so amazing.
I remember at lunch we wouldhave a burrata salad tuna steak.
You would have the salmon and Iwould have the ceviche every

(09:43):
single day.
They knew our water body andtuna.
Yeah.
Oh, that's tuna.
That's right.
You don't accept it.
Yeah, we had the same thing.
So I guess you're saying go forthe seafood.
Definitely would recommend theseafood.
I mean, try the local cuisine,but I think a part of their
local cuisine would definitelybe seafood because it's so good
there.

(10:03):
It was delicious.
What is one thing you wish youhad known before going?
Was there a challenge or atravel hack or you figured out
along the way?
I think definitely travel hackfor people who do get seasick
like myself.
On the seaplanes, they do getquite rocky, but I would
definitely recommend having theseaplane over going by boat

(10:23):
because you can see the stunningviews and all the water from
above.
It's a much better view and amuch better experience.
But I would definitely recommendgetting some slack travel
sickness tablets before you goon the seaplanes.
I'd also suggest putting someearplugs in as well.
Yeah, very loud.
Yeah, because they're verysmall.
There's like probably like eightseats on the plane.
Kiara sat right before thepilots and the doors opened.

(10:46):
Do you remember that?
You looked at me in shock,horror.
That was an experience.
Yeah.
And we did drop people off onthe way to other islands.
Do you remember that?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So the other thing that I wouldsay is that remember that you
have to pack light because therewas a limit on the seaplane.
There might not be on the planegoing over, but the seaplane I

(11:07):
think is 10k limit.
Luckily, mum and I just tookour, we just took a carry on,
I'm pretty sure.
Yes, because we only went for afew days, right?
How many days did we go?
Four days, I think.
Maybe it was four nights andfive days.
Yeah, because the other thingis, is I guess the seaplanes
come at strange hours.
So we Flew back to Malé, stayedin like a day hotel that you pay

(11:28):
for the hour because our flightwas so late at night.
That's actually something Iwould recommend because a hotel
organized that for us becausethey knew that otherwise the
airport itself is tiny, right?
And there's nothing there.
It's just like a little conveyorbelt that you're like throwing

(11:48):
coals or woolies in.
Woolies is worse, by the way.
It's a grocery store inAustralia and so is Coles.
If you could give anyone one tipor a bit of advice about the
destination, what would it be?
I would definitely recommendgoing.
I know people are opposed togoing until their honeymoon with
their partner or whatever, but Idefinitely wouldn't let that

(12:10):
stop you to travel there withyour friends or even your
family.
I think that's a bit of a myth Iknow it's a very honeymoon
destination but I don't thinkthat should oppose anyone from
traveling there and also to makesure that you book a hotel
that's on an island becausealthough staying in Malé we did
stay overnight I wouldn'trecommend staying there the

(12:31):
whole time just because you haveto take those day trips out
anyways the beautiful water ison those islands so you don't
get the full experience unlessyou're staying on one of the
islands like I would recommendthe W Hotel it was very it was
an amazing experience It'sbeautiful.
So my understanding is that youcan do the Maldives pretty
affordable and you can stay inlocal hotels on these islands or

(12:53):
you can go with the big nameones like W and Sheraton and
stuff like that.
So thank you, Chiara.
I know I had to drag you on hereto be part of it.
So thank you so much for comingon and hopefully I'll get you
back on again soon after yourbig trip to Europe.
Yeah, hopefully my best friendand I will come on here and talk

(13:16):
about our highs and lows oftraveling Europe as
24-year-olds.
And you're not properlybackpacking either.
Look, I'm definitely not doingthat.
That's not for me.
I am a hotel girl.
I'm not the bougie ones, what wecan afford.
But at the same time, I will notbe.
Well, actually, to be fair.

(13:36):
Stay tuned because we'llprobably talk about it, but
we're staying in a hotel inMykonos, so I'll let you know
how that goes.
That's right.
You are staying in a hostel.
Yeah.
Before this episode ends, I'vegot to shout out something
special for you all, especiallyif the Maldives is on your
bucket list or if you're justdreaming about the perfect
escape.

(13:56):
I have a full review of the WMaldives on the Truly Expat
Travel website, and trust me,it's packed with everything you
want to know from overwatervilla vibes to dining, service,
and all the little details thatmake or break a luxury stay.
But I didn't stop there.
I went deep into the otheratolls too.
Not just the usual touristspots, but some of the lesser

(14:17):
known gems that are totallyworth exploring.
If you're planning a trip orjust love travel inspo, don't
forget to check it out.
This article, or these articles,are up now.
So give it a read after theepisode.
You'll definitely want to book.
Or bookmark it for later.

(14:39):
Join us again next time on TrulyExpat Travel Podcast, where I
have another excitingdestination in a world that's
too big to be left unexplored.
Ciao for now.